This is a fun question. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned willow or cottonwood. I'm not a wood snob by any stretch of the imagination, but there are some that even I won't burn. Cottonwood smells like sour piss when green, whether it is split or burning. Willow is a little better, but they smell just like you'd expect something to smell that lurks in stagnant riverbottoms. Everybody around here calls Box Elder "Sh-t Maple". Black Locust smells horrible when cut green, but the smoke is a little better, but acrid, but seasoning seems to mitigate this, once dry it ain't that bad. I happen to like really dry Red Elm, kind mildly sweet, not punky like American Elm. I try to stay away from Ailanthus (tree of heaven, no idea why they call it that), kinda like burning tires. I happen to kinda like tulip poplar.
It kinda depends on where you live, as I notice certain regions seem to prefer different smells, based on what they grew up around. In Idaho, everybody loves the smell of Pine, Fir, and Tamarack. My personal favorites are Western Redcedar, Juniper, and White Pine.
Down south, hickory of all varieties seems to be king, slightly ahead of the hard Maples and Ash. I always see fierce debate on whether people like oak, some say it smells like a glass of sweet bourbon, and some say it smells like piss. Never burned it myself, oak goes almost exclusively as lumber around here, as it is rare. I always see vitriolic debate on this one. We have lots of orchards around here, so Cherry, Apple, and my favorite fruitwood, Plum, seem to be getting popular. My wife is from the Puget Sound (Seattle area) and occasionally a neighbor of her relatives burns Madrone, and I would stab someone in the neck with a butterknife to have that stuff in Idaho. Great for smoking meats and Fish. Almond is very popular there too.
There are a lot of middle-of-the-road varieties that seem to be neither loved nor hated, like Silver or Norway Maple, Hemlock, Balsam Fir, Bois d'arc (Osage Orange), Aspens, and Sycamore (which I think is a subtype of maple). Some folks tell me black birch smells like black licorice when burned, which I would love as much as Jagermeister, my favorite drink. Yes, I'm still something of a damn kid.
That all said, it gets 20 below here sometimes in winter, and I wouldn't hesitate to burn anything that would keep me from turning into a popsicle. I'm a dedicated scrounger, and when you are like me, you can't be super snooty about it. But everybody has preferences. I got bored once and smoked some hotdogs over wet Tamarack chips in my BBQ and freakin' loved it. I'm sure to get flamed for that one.
.
as we've had smoke from there in the last few weeks.
